Some former colleagues I worked with many years ago in university administration would love reading the script for Driftwood. Coming from the Caribbean themselves, they chortled when a student had emailed into say he hadn’t received some course materials he was promised. Or, as he actually wrote, “I ne’er e’er got dem”. Much of the playtext is written thus: “I broke meh back, meh foot, meh heart, everyting”. A pity, then, that not everyone on stage who was supposed to sustain Trinidadian accents to the end were able to do so, despite a script meticulously written phonetically.
Pearl (Ellen Thomas) is very much in charge of ALMA (all in block capitals, apparently – if it’s an acronym for something, I evidently missed it in what became a very wordy play), a local bar. Set in 1956 against the backdrop of the dying days of colonialism (Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain in 1962, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as head of state until it became a republic in 1976), Mansion (Roger Ringrose), ALMA’s proprietor, knows his days are numbered on the island, and not just because the political winds of change are blowing.
It came as a surprise to me that the no-nonsense Pearl, one of those strong-willed women who has made a success of her business largely by herself (not unlike Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia!, come to think of it) should indulge in a long, even if poignant, monologue in the second half. For someone who preferred others to get to the point – in the opening scenes, she repeatedly asked Diamond (Martins Imhangbe) what precisely he wanted – hearing her pontificate about “de shame and de guilt” and whatever else seemed, at least to me, very out of character. I couldn’t help feeling she would have told herself to shut up.
More convincing was Diamond eventually dropping the ‘tough guy’ façade, developed in the first place because of maternal abandonment. Much goes on but the narrative becomes unwieldy. A kiss in the first half made someone in the row behind me react with a loud “Eurgh!”, justified in the context of the scene. The other on-stage characters are, in no particular order, Tom (Ziggy Heath), a sergeant in the US Navy, who tries to do a deal with Diamond but it’s Pearl’s daughter Ruby (Cat White) who tells Tom ALMA doesn’t belong to Diamond, and a local policeman, Seldom (Shane David-Joseph), always with his trusty truncheon.
The production itself is decent: I was particularly impressed with the smell of gunfire that followed a shot being fired (of course an American character in a show is going to have a gun!), and Simon Spencer’s lighting design does well to portray temperamental electricity supply into ALMA. The play’s descent into gloopy rambling in the closing scenes needs looking at: the gun and the knife that appear in those scenes should frankly be applied to the dialogue, which could do with some significant slashing. A brief foray into science fiction (taking inspiration from Midnight Robber by Jamaican-Canadian author Nalo Hopkinson, by the script’s own admission) was, to me, totally unnecessary at best and downright baffling at worst. Still, anyone who believes in the idea that ‘you reap what you sow’ will find that principle works overtime in this somewhat intriguing snapshot of family and community dynamics.
Review by Chris Omaweng
‘dis is my home. My whole life. My history here. And de only future I go have is here.’
Heat is rising in colonial Trinidad. While support for political independence is growing, a downtown Port of Spain gentlemen’s club is about to be entangled in a custody battle of its own.
ALMA promises guests a welcome escape from the bustle of the capital. Owned by Englishman Mansion, governed by Pearl and coveted by her beguiling daughter Ruby – each with their own business plan in mind.
An unexpected stranger – Diamond – carries in a rum delivery, bringing with him a familial revelation and a pursuit for wealth. His deal with a corrupt US Marine imperils ALMA, and all who call it home. One wrong move and everything could shatter, but who will play the right game?
Shane David-Joseph – Seldom
Ziggy Heath – Tom
Martins Imhangbe – Diamond
Roger Ringrose – Mansion
Ellen Thomas – Pearl
Cat White – Ruby
Martina Laird – Writer
Justin Audibert – Director
Sadeya Greenaway-Bailey – Set and Costume Designer
Simon Spencer – Lighting Designer
Christella Litras – Composer
Tony Gayle – Sound Designer
Kloé Dean – Movement Director
Bethan Clark – Fight and Intimacy Director
Sebastian Born – Dramaturg
Matthew Dewsbury CDG – Casting Director
Aundrea Fudge – Voice and Dialect
Wabriya King – Dramatherapist
DRIFTWOOD
Kiln Theatre
4 June to 4 July 2026
